Dental instrument cabinets



Feb. 11, 1958 E. w. ROEHM DENTAL INSTRUMENT CABINETS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 17, '1953 A TTOR/VE) Feb. 11, 1958 E. w. ROEHM DENTAL INSTRUMENT CABINETS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 41 1/54 70 EDGAR W. ROEHM' Filed Aug. 17, 1953 Feb.'11 ,1 95:8 E. wQRoE l-nvl 5 2,823,090

DENTAL INSTRUMENT CAB-INETS Filed Aug. 17, 1955' v I a Sheets-Sheet 5' FIG. I2.

EDGAR W. Roam Armin 5r United States Patent i DENTAL INSTRUMENT'CABINETS Edgar W. Roehm, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to W. D. fillison Company, Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of diana Application August 17, 1953, Serial No. 374,513

8 Claims. (Cl. 312-333) This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in. dental instrumentcabinets.

A .dentist, in performing dental workin the mouth of a patient, requires immediate and very convenient access to a Wide variety of different instruments, medicinal agents, and other materials relating to oral prosthesis and prophylaxis. For this reason, it has become common practice for dentists to utilize a characteristic type of relatively high, narrow cabinet having a large number of narrow tray-like drawers. However, when a dentist is operating in the mouth of a patient, it is extremely desirable to preserve a sterile field, so far as possible, and dentists find it quite inconvenient and time-wasting to wash and re-sterilize the hands each time it is necessary to open or close a drawer of the instrument cabinet during the course of an operation. A

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide a dental instrument cabinet in which all of the drawers and the bottle compartment can be opened and closed without the direct use of the hands.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a dental instrument cabinet which is attractive in appearance and is completely devoid of protruding handles which catch on the clothing, are non-sterile and. otherwise.un.- s ightly, undesirable, and inconvenient. t

It is an additional object of the present, invention to provide a dental instrument cabinet having .completely concealed locking means making it possible for the dentist to lock his instrument cabinet and thereby prevent unauthorized persons from tampering with or removing the instruments and the other very valuable materials normally stored in such cabinets.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features .of form, construction, .arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings (three sheets) Figure 1 is a perspective view of a dental instrument cabinet constructed in accordance withand embodying the present invention;

Figures 2 and 3 are fragmentary sectional views taken along lines 2-2 and '33 respectively, of Figure 1;

Figures 4 and 5 are fragmentary sectional views taken along lines 4-4 and 5,-5, respectively, of Figure 2;

Figures 6, 7, and 8 are fragmentary sectional views taken along lines 6-6, 77, and 8-8, respectively, of Figure 3; t

Figure 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken .along line 9-9 of Figure 6; I r

Figures 10 and 11 are fragmentary sectional views taken along the lines 1ii10, and 11 1 1, respectively, of Figure 7,

Figure 12 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a modified form of latching mechanism forming a part. of the present invention;

Figures 13 and 14 are fragmentary sectional views taken alonglines 13-13 and 14-14, respectively, of Figure'12;

Figures-l5 and l6-are fragmentary vertical'sectional Patented Feb. 11, 1958 ice views of the modified form of latching mechanism of the present inventionshowing such latching mechanismzin partially opened and fully opened positions, respectively; and

Figure 17 is afragmentary sectional View taken along the line 1717 of Figure 15.

Referring now in more detail and byreferencecharacters to the drawings, which illustrate. practical embodiments of the present invention, A designates a dental .instrument cabinet comprising a pair of vertical side walls, 1, 1 rigidly connected at their bottom margins by a rectangular pedestal or base 2 having a front apron 3 which is indented or set inwardly from the plane of the front margins of the sidewalls 1, lto provide toe roomQ Removably mounted upon the rearmargins of the side-walls 1, 1' and extending closurewise therebetween is aback wall 4. The side walls 1, 1' are, furthermore, connected along their upper margins by a rectangular top 5 integrally provided along its rear margin and the adjacent rearward portions of its side margins with an upstanding bottle rack 6 including a vertical back-wall 7, a horizontal top flange 8, and side flanges 9, 9', the latter having somewhat round-cornered or arcuate forward margins, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Provided for closurewise disposition across the open face of the bottle rack 6 is a door 10 curved to conform in general contour to the curve of the forward margins of the side flanges 9, 9, and being provided at its lower end with an outwardly curved flange 11 for snug-fitting engagement upon the upper face of the cabinet top 5. Along its lateral margins, and adjacent its interior or top edge 12, the door 10 is integrally provided with inwardly extending ears 13 pivotally secured by means of a screw 14 upon the interior faces of the side flanges 9, 9. Also encirclingly disposed around the shank of the screw 14 is a hairpin spring 15 abutting'ly engaged at one end against a short tongue 16 struck up from the car 13. The other ends of the springs 15 are retentively engaged against pins 17 which are set into the interior faces of the side flanges 9, 9, respectively,- for biasing the door 10 from its normally closed position, as shown in full lines in Figure 2, to its open position, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2.

Pivotally mounted upon the under faceof the top flange 8 is a latch dog 18 adapted to bear at its forward end against the edge 12 of the door 10 when the latter is in closed position. At its opposite or rear end, the dog 18 bears aganist the upper end of a leaf-spring 19 rigidly fixed upon the back wall 7 and adapted forresiliently holding the dog 18 in the position shown in full lines, in Figure 2. Upon its upper face, the rear end of the dog 18 bears against the under face of a push button 20 which projects upwardly through the top flange 8 for ready accessibility to the user. When thepush button 20 is de: pressed bythe finger, hand, or even by the elbow of theuser, the forward end of the latch dog 18 is rocked upwardly and is thus disengaged from the door 10, thereby permitting the latter to swing upwardly to open position under influence of the springs 15. By this means, the dentist may have access to the medicine bottles b housed within the bottle rack 6. Since the bottle rack 6'is'o'rdinarily kept closed when the dentist is not performing an operation, the interior thereof and the bottles b contained therein will be clean and substantially sanitary. Thus, if the dentist, during an operation, has need for any of the medicinal agentscontained within the bottles. b, the. door 10 may be opened by the use of the elbow, so that a sanitary conditioncf the hands need not be impaired. Since, of course, the bottles themselves are sanitary, they may be handled directly with the fingers. After the operation has been completed and the patient has left, the dentist or his assistant may wipe the bottles clean, and, if desired,

may even sterilize the bottles by wiping them with a cloth dampened with a suitable liquid disinfectant.

Beneath the top 5 and within the confines of the walls 1, '1' the instrument cabinet A is provided with a drawer space S for accommodating a plurality of drawers 21 which are of varying height, as shown in Figure 1, but are otherwise identical in construction, and each comprises a front panel 22, side panels 23, 24, a bottom panel 25, and a back panel 26, the latter extending transversely across the rear end of the drawer in parallel relation to the front panel and spaced inwardly from the rear transverse margin of the bottom panel 25 in the provision of a rear shelf-like portion 27. The horizontal distance between the outwardly presented faces of the side panels 23, 24 is substantially smaller than the horizontal distance between the opposed inwardly presented faces of the cabinet side walls 1, 1, and the latter are provided with inwardly presented horizontal channel-shaped slide rails 28, 29, respectively, for operatively accommodating paired slide rollers 30, and 31, 31, which are respectively mounted in L-shaped brackets 32, 32, 33, 33', which are in turn conventionally screwed to the rearwardly overhanging shelf-like portion 27 of the bottom panel 25. The four rollers 30, 30', 31, 31' of each drawer 21 support the drawer firmly and securely in horizontal position and permit the drawer to move outwardly to fully extended position, that is to say, a position in which the back panel 26 is substantially in line with the front wall opening of the instrument cabinet A, so that instruments and other materials stored within the drawer are fully accessible. Furthermore, when the drawers 21 are fully closed, the outwardly presented faces of the front panels 22 all lie in the same plane and are flush with the forwardly presented vertical margins of the side walls 1, 2, and no handles or other finger-manipulative means is exposed.

Each of the drawers 21 are held in closed position by a touch-lock mechanism 34 which comprises a stationary keeper 35 and a latch-assembly 36. The keepers 35 of the several touch-lock mechanisms 34 are rigidly mounted upon the back wall 4 in vertical alignment, each being b directly to the rear of the particular drawer 21 with which it is associated, and integrally including horizontal legs 37, 38, 39 connected by a bight 40. The legs 37, 38 are located in vertically spaced parallel alignment on one side of the bight and the leg 39 is located on the other side of the bight 40 in laterally spaced parallel alignment with the leg 38. Furthermore, the leg 37 is substantially longer than the legs 38, 39 and is integrally provided in its outer end with an enlarged portion 41 having an upwardly and rearwardly inclined downwardly presented cam-face 42. Similarly, the leg 38 is provided at its outer end with a rearwardly inclined and upwardly presented cam-face 43. Finally, the leg 39 is provided on its outer end with an upstanding detent-hook 44 having rearwardly presented catch-face 45. As will be seen by reference to Figures 10 and 11, the upper rear end of the cam-face 42 is located forwardly of the lower forward end of the cam-face 43 and the catch-face 45 is located adjacent to but rearwardly of the cam-face 43.

The latch-assembly 36 comprises a vertical bracket-plate 46 having a circular aperture 47 and being integrally provided along its lower margin with a flange 48 by Which it is fastened to the shelf-like rear portion 27 of the drawer bottom 25. As will be seen by reference to Figure 7, the bracket-plate 46 is located so that its one vertical margin 49 is in a plane which lies between the legs 38, 39 and, furthermore, the aperture 47 is in alignment with and substantially larger than the leg 39 so that, as the drawer 21 is pushed to closed position, the detent-hook 44 will pass freely through the aperture 47. Fixed in and projecting horizontally forwardly from the bracket-plate 46 is a pin 59 for rockably supporting a latch-link 51 having rounded top and bottom edges 52, 53 respectively and extending somewhat horizontally outwardly beyond the margin 49 of the bracket-plate 46 and between the legs 37, 38, so that its rounded edgeswill ride against the cam-faces 42, 43 thereof. Also fixed in and extending horizontally outwardly from the bracket-plate 46 is a spring-retaining pin 54 for hooked engagement with one end of a tension spring 55, the other end of which is hooked around a pin 56 set into the end of the latch-link 51. The center line of pin 54 is below the center line of pin and the vertical margin 49 of the bracket-plate 46 is provided with upper and lower stop cars 57, 58 respectively, which are located well above and below said center lines respectively so that the spring and latch-link 51 will have a two-position toggle action, that is to say, when the latch link 51 is down as shown in full lines in Figure 7 it will be held in such position against the stop 58 and contrariwise, when the latch-link 51 is in up position as shown in dotted lines in Figure 7 it will be held in such position against the stop 57. When the drawer 21 is pushed inwardly to the position shown in Figure 10 and the latch-link 51 is in down position the catch face 45 of the detent hook 44 will engage the latch-link 51 as shown in Figure 11 and thereby hold the drawer 21 closed.

Also securely fastened to the shelf-like portion 27 of the drawer-bottoms in laterally spaced relation to the bracketplate 46, is an upwardly presented U-shaped bracket 59 having spaced parallel legs 60, 61 which are suitably apertured for slidably supporting a push-rod 62 provided at one end with a stop-forming head 63 and at its other end with a shoe 64 which bears against the interior face of the back wall 4. Coiled about the push-rod 62 is a compression spring 65 abutting at its ends respectively, against the bracket leg 61 and shoe 64. These compression springs 65, of course, hold the several drawers 21 in tightly latched position.

When the dentist or other user desires to open a drawer 21, inward pressure may be applied with the back of the wrist, the elbow, or knee to the front panel 22. The drawer 21 is thus forced inwardly, whereupon the edge 53 of the latch-link 51 rides up along the cam-face 43 and the latch-link 51 is rocked upwardly past dead center line D/L and snaps into the up position out of engagement with the catch-face 45 of the detent hook 44. Thus as the inward pushing pressure is released, the drawer 21 is unlatched and will be propelled outwardly by the action of the spring 65. As the drawer 21 rolls open the edge 52 of the latch-link rides against the cam-face 42 and the latch-link 51 is rocked back or reset into down position. After use the drawer 21 may be pushed back into the cabinet A and as it reaches closed position the latch-link 51 will ride up over the detent-hook 44. Since the upper point of the detent hook is located well below the dead center line D/ L, the latch-link will snap down into latched engagement behind the catch-face 45.

The shelf-like portions 27 of the drawers bottoms 26 are finally provided with vertically aligned slot-like apertures 66 for locked engagement with downwardly presented out-struck tongues 67 of a vertically shiftable l0ckbar 63 slidably seated at its upper and lower ends respectively in sleeve-tforming clips 69, 70 bolted or otherwise secured to the interior marginal faces of the cabinet A as best seen in Figures 6 and 9. Adjacent its upper end the lock-bar 68 is provided with a transverse slot 71 for cam-wise fitted engagement with an eccentric pin 72 pro jecting forwardly from a conventional tumbler type lockbarrel 73 operatively mounted in the back wall 4 and adapted for rotative actuation by means of the key 74. The lock-bar 68 is actually an interlock, since the back wall 4 cannot be removed and the drawers 21 cannot be opened when the lock-bar 68 is down. On the other hand, proper rotation of the key 74 will unlock and lift the lockbar 68 releasing both the back wall 4 and the drawers 21.

If desired, it is possible to provide a modified form of touch-lock mechanism shown in Figures 12-17 inclusive, which comprises a drawer 21' substantially similar in all respects to the previously described drawer 21 and having an overhanging shelf-like portion 27. Screwed or otherwise rigidly mounted on the shelf-like portion 27' is a keeper member 75 integrally including a vertical bracketnative positions,

plate 76 having inclined camming flanges 77, 78 and a latch-flange 79. Rigidly mounted on the back wall '4 similar in all respects to the previously described back wall 4, is a forwardly projecting latch-bracket 80 provided at its forward end with a laterally projecting horizontal pin 81 for rockably supporting a latch-bar 82 having an upwardly projecting latch-face '83 and a rearwardly projecting stop-finger 84 for optional engagement against stopears 85, 86 struck out from the latch-bracket 80. Also set into the latch bracket .80 is a second laterally projecting-horizontal pin 87 for rockably supporting a toggle-link 88 whichexten'ds forwardly therefrom beyond the forward end of the latch-bracket 80 and at its forward end is provided with a transverse pin 89 for hooked engagement with one end of a spring 90 which is, in turn, hooked at its other end to an car 91 struck out from the latchbar 82.

When the drawer 21' is in closed position the latch-bar 82 'and other related elements are in the position shown in Figure 12 and the latch-face 83 is engaged against the latch-flange 79. As will be noted from Figure 12, the toggle link 88 and the spring 90 are in up position. When, however, the drawer 21 is pushed inwardly for a shortdistance one laterally projecting end of the pin 89 rides against the vcannning-flange 77 and is pushed into down position as shown in Figure 15 disengaging the latch-barg82. The drawer 21' will then roll'out into fully opened position but as it does the keeper member 75 moves outwardly with it, causing the camming-flange 78 to ride against the pin 89 and reset the toggle link 88 and latch-bar 82 as shown in Figure 16. When the drawer 21 is again closed, the latch-bar 82 will ride under the latch-flange, 79 and snap up again into latch position. During downward swinging movement, however, the car 91 does not travel below the center line of the pin 87 so the position of the toggle-link 88 will not be disturbed.

It should :be understood that changes and modifications in the 'form, construction, arrangement, and combination of'theseveral parts of the dentists instrument cabinet may be made and, substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

'1. Latching means for the drawers and doors of dental and medical instrument cabinets, said latching means comprising "in combination a keeper and a spring-actuating latch member rockably mounted for optional disposition in two positions, said latch member being so positioned that inone of its positions it will engage the keeper when the drawer is pushed to closed posittion and in the other position will be disengaged from. said keeper, first camming means mounted on the drawer and being engageable with the latch member responsive to inward pressure upon the drawer for shifting the latch member into keeper-disengaged position, second camming means mounted on thedrawer and being adapted upon continued outward movement of the drawer to return the latch member into'keeper-engaging position, and spring means associated'with eachdra-Wer for normally urging such drawer outwardly toward open position.

2. A touch latch for use with two relatively shiftable members comprising a bracket mounted rigidly upon one such relatively shiftable member, a latching link pivotally mounted o'n 'and projecting outwardly from the bracket and being swingable between upper and lower stops, overcenter spring means operatively associated with said link for optionally holding it against either one or the other of said stops and also for shifting the link forcibly into engagement with one stop after the link is moved away from the other stop past a position midway between the two stops, a detent rigidly mounted on the other of said relatively shiftable members for lock engagement with the latching link when the latter is in one of its two altercamming means also mounted on the other of-said relatively shiftable members for lifting the initial position as the relatively shiftable members moveapart,

3. A touch latch for use with two relatively shiftable members comprising a bracket rigidly mounted on one of such relatively shiftable members and having a pair of spaced camming elements extending in the direction of movement of the two relatively shiftable members, a latching link pivotally mounted on the other relatively shiftable member and lying in a plane substantially perpendicular to the direction of shifting movement between said relatively sh'iftable members, said link being adapted for rocking movement about an axis which is substantially parallel to said line of relatively shifting movement, a keeper associated with the bracket for optional engagement with the link whereby to hold said relatively shiftable members together in a closed position, upper and lower stop means respectively mountedon opposite sides of said link so that the link is capable of swinging between said stop means, and over-'centerspr ing means operatively associated with said link for optionally holding it against either one *or the other said stop means and also for shifting the link forcibly into engagement 'with one stop means after the link is moved away from the other stop meanspast a position intermediate between the two stop means, said keeper being located in an intermediate position between the two camming elements 'of the bracket with respect to the direction :of movement :of :the two relatively 'shiftable members 'sothat when the link isengaged with the keeper the link will lie between the two camming elements and will be adapted for engagement with one such camming element whenthe two relatively shiftable members are positioned closer together from said closed position whereby the link will be shifted out of keeper-engaging position said link will engage the other camming element as the relatively shiftable members are moved outwardly away from each other and will be thus returned to initial position.

4. A touch latch for use with two relatively shiftable members comprising a bracket rigidly mounted on'one of such relatively 'shiftable members and having .a pair of spaced camming elements extending in the direction'of movement of the two relatively shiftable members, a latching Ilink pivotally mounted on the other relatively shiftable member and lying in a plane substantially parallel to the direction of shifting movement between said relatively shiftable members, said link being adapted for rocking movement about an axis which is substantially perpendicular to said line of relatively shifting movement, a keeper associated with the bracket for optional engagement with the link whereby to hold said relatively shiftable members together in a closed position, upper and lower stop means respectively mounted on opposite sides of said link so that the link is capable of swinging between said stop means, and over-center spring means op'e'ratively associated with said link for optionally holding itagain'St either one or the other said stop means and also for shifting the link forcibly into engagement with one stop means after the link is moved away from the other stop means past a position intermediate between the two stop means, said keeper being located in relation to the two camming elements of the bracket with respect to the direction of movement of the tworelatively shiftable members so that when the link is engaged with the keeper the link will lie between the two camming elements and positioned closer together from said closed position whereby the link will be shifted out of keeper-engaging position and past the intermediate position between the stop means and will be thereupon shifted by the spring into engagement with the other stop means in which latter position said link will engage the other camming element as the relatively shiftable members are moved outwardly away from each other and will be thus returned to initial position.

5. A touch latch for use with two relatively shiftable members, said latch comprising a latch-bracket rigidly mounted upon one of said shiftable members and extending outwardly therefrom toward the other member in the direction of the line of movement between said members, a latch-bar mounted on the latch-bracket, a toggle link also rigidly mounted on the latch-bracket, a pair of stop means rigidly mounted on the latch-bracket for optional engagement with the latch-bar so that the latch-bar may swing between alternative positions, and over-center spring operatively mounted at its opposite ends upon the latch-bar and the toggle link respectively for optionally holding the latch-bar against either one or the other of said stop means and also for shifting the latch-bar forcibly into engagement with one stop means responsive to swinging movement of the toggle link, a keeper rigidly mounted on the other of said relatively shiftable members for latched engagement with the latch-bar, camming means also mounted on last named shiftable member for shifting the toggle link out of position as the two relatively shiftable members are positioned together and moving it past dead-center position so that the spring means will finally shift the latch-bar into its alternative position, and auxiliary camming means spaced outwardly from the first named camming means for returning the toggle link to its initial position as the relatively shiftable members move outwardly with respect to each other.

6. A touch latch for use with two relatively shiftable members comprising a bracket mounted rigidly upon one such relatively shiftable member, a latching link pivotally mounted on and projecting outwardly from the bracket and being swingable between upper and lower stops, over-center spring means operatively associated with said link for optionally holding it against either one or the other of said stops and also for shifting the link forcibly into engagement with one stop after the link is moved away from the other stop past a position midway between the two stops, a detent rigidly mounted on the other of said relatively shiftable members for lock engagement with the latching link when the latter is in one of its two alternative positions, camming means also mounted on the other of said relatively shiftable members for shifting the latching link out of locking position as the two relatively shiftable members are pushed together and moving it past its center position so that the spring means will finally shift the latching link into its alternate position, and auxiliary camming means spaced from the first named camming means for returning the latch link to its initial position as the relatively shiftable members move apart.

7. Latching means for use with the drawers of dental and medical instrument cabinets wherein the cabinet has a vertical rear wall and the drawer has a rear wall in forwardly spaced relation to the rear wall of said cabinet; said latching means including a bracket, a latching link pivotally mounted on and projecting outwardly from the bracket and being swingable between upper and lower stops, over-center spring means operatively associated with said link for optionally holding it against either one or the other of said stops and also for shifting the link forcibly into engagement with one stop after the link is moved away from the other stop past a position midway between the two stops, a detent adapted for lock engagement with the latching link when the latter is in one of its two alternative positions, camming means operatively associated with the latching link for shifting the latching link out of locking position as the drawer is pushed toward the back wall of the cabinet and moving said latching link past its center position so that the spring means will finally shift the latching link into its alternate position, auxiliary camming means spaced from said firstnamed camming means for returning the latch link to its initial position as the drawer is moved away from the rear wall of the cabinet, and spring operated means asso ciated with the drawer for pushing the drawer outwardly to opened position when the latching means is released and adapted to maintain said rear walls in spaced relatron.

8. Latching means for use with the drawers of dental and medical instrument cabinets wherein the cabinet has a vertical rear wall and the drawer has a rear wall in forwardly spaced relation to the rear wall of said cabinet; said latching means including a bracket, a latching link pivotally mounted on and projecting outwardly from the bracket and being swingable between upper and lower stops, over-center spring means operatively associated with said link for optionally holding it against either one or the other of said stops and also for shifting the link forcibly into engagement with one stop after the link is moved away from'the other stop past a position midway between the two stops, a detent adapted for lock engagement with the latching link when the latter is in one of its two alternative positions, camming means operatively associated with the latching link for shifting the latching link out of locking position as the drawer is pushed toward the back wall of the cabinet and moving said latching link past its center position so that the spring means will finally shift the latching link into its alternate position, auxiliary camming means spaced from said firstnamed camming means for returning the latch link to its initial position as the drawer is moved away from the rear wall of the cabinet, and a spring operated push-rod shiftably mounted on said drawer for pushing the drawer outwardly to opened position when the latching means is released, said push-rod being adapted for endwise engagement with said rear walls. 1

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